Feel A Thing
by MS-Manuscript
Summary: I want to unlock his potential. Don’t you agree that everyone should meet their potential? That everyone should be the best they can be? I want him to be the best he can be. But you are in his way. Dear Penny, wrong is what I do.
1. Denial

Characters belong to Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Zack Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen. Not me. Story line does though.

* * *

Fury dropped the mail bag on the table, Bad Horse and FTJ being the only two that didn't groan along with the wood. None of them ever understood their leader's reasoning behind reading the applications of the wannbe evil-doers. But they did as they were told, never asking why. It was Tie-Die's turn to open Bad Horse's letters, getting up at an ear-flick to take out the DVD and put in a new one. Applicants sent in envelopes with videos and forms as to why they should be in the ELE. No one ever got in, anyone that the others thought worthy were sent to Bad Horse, who turned them down.

Video tapes, DVDs, even USB sticks were sent in with people bragging about how great they were. Each of the board members had a computer with a VCR set up to watch them. Fake Thomas Jefferson hated these. Even more so, he hated this one. Three years, he had been seeing the same envelope for three years. It was a plane white envelope, no video included. Not worth his time. Taking the entry he tossed it, unopened, into the trash not far from him.

"**Thomas**." The politician jumped as his name was nickered in his ear. He glanced up, finding Bad Horse looking pointedly at him. Here, in the board room, as the only place that the cowboy henchmen were not speaking for their leader. There was no reason too.

"**What is that that you threw out**?"

"A letter sir, nothing of importance."

"**A letter. For entry to the League**?"

"…Yes, sir." FTJ hated when Bad Horse did this to him. They were friends, long time co-workers... Thomas helped the mare birth the evil thing! He was the one that taught the horse everything he knew. Or, kind of. It seemed that after forming the League that the horse was showing brains that Jefferson hadn't given him.

"**Let me see it**." Swallowing, the fake man retrieved the letter, opened it, and put it before his master. For that's what Bad Horse was now. Not a friend, not a co-worker, not a partner in crime. He was their master.

The brown and white stallion's eyes scanned the page. Everyone watched, waiting to see what was going to happen. After the hours of sitting and reading the dull applications, watching the stupid people gloat like they were trying to get from the Hero Book and upgrade to the Hero Guild, anything even slightly interesting was worth rapt attention. And a collective shiver went through the group when a smirk crossed the steed's lips.

"**Put this in my file.** **Jefferson, type this address into the computer for me**." Jefferson? Thomas hated it when Bad Horse called him that. They had known each other for so long, why resort to that name?! At least he didn't call him Fake. But this was fascinating. The most feared man… creature… in the world wanted _this_ applicant on file?! Doing as he was bid, the long-time shadow stalker looked at the paper, at the highlighted sentence, and typed in the web address provided. Then as the page loaded, put the messy hand-written application into the filing cabinet.

"Who's it from?" Bowie drawled, standing and looking over the horse's shoulder, leaning on his flank. A twitching shake made him stand on his own.

"Doctor Horrible." Jefferson frowned as the name left a taste in his mouth less than desired.

"Pish." Snake rolled her eyes. "Sounds like a child's name."

"Like you should talk." Professor Normal snapped, going back to his paper but not truly reading it. Behind the thick lenses he watched the reactions to whatever Bad Horse was waiting for.

"Oh, right, like _your_ name is any better." Tie-Die snarked.

"**STOP IT!** **You act like foals, truly a name has no matter, it is what fear it strikes that counts**."

"Right you are m'lord!"

"**Shut up Fury**."

"Yes sir." Never take him lightly.

"**Click that link there, the one that sais last page. I think I found my new RSS feed**." Clearly the page had loaded.

"Sir, you can't be serious!" FTJ protested, resisting the urge to cower under the table when he was glared at, long ears so far back that they were hidden in the brown mane. With three soft clops the big horse, Bay Clydesdale that Thomas' father had been so proud of, the cross horse that liked to call himself a Thoroughbred though it was so far from the truth, was nose to nose with the man that had brought him into the world of evil.

"**Thomas Thomas Thomas, Doubting Thomas should have been your namesake. **_**Click, the, link**_." Giving a slight nod, the man did as he was told. Bible names was not something good from the iron shoed equine that was only inches from ruling the world. He clicked on the link. Hours later, Bad Horse had watched every video on the blog, all the applications had been read and thrown out, and they were all watching the wheels turn in the steed's mind.

"**Professor Normal**." The cyborg snapped to attention. "**Send this man, Doctor Horrible, a letter of denial from the League**."

"But, Bad Horse, we've never sent a letter of such nature before."

"**I am **_**well**_** aware of that, Normal**."

"Of course, I will have it in the mail by noon tomorrow."

"**Good, meeting adjourned**." Bad Horse was the first one out of the room. Leaving a very confused Board behind him.

* * *

Bad Horse loved his phone. He had it in a small pouch, and he had taken to wearing it on his halter after the letter from Dr. Horrible. The board still didn't get why he was so interested in the looser. But he had put a feed on his phone with a special ring-tone. When it went off, he would whisk away to his computer to watch the newly uploaded video, normally with the board watching. He liked the days that there was an early post, because that meant that there was going to be a heist going on, and normally an evening video as well. Bowie had made a comment once about how you could almost set your watch to this Horrible character.

"He's rather stupid, isn't he?" Tie-Die muttered, watching the newest video with Fury and Bad Horse. "I mean really, he puts information on his blog about his heist, then gets beaten to a pulp by Hammer. He hasn't figured out that the tool is watching his computer?"

"Clearly not." Fury snorted, munching on her popcorn. She rather enjoyed these sessions with the horse. Then again, pain to any male figure was fun to watch. Except pain to her boss, as Bad Horse may be male, but was a horse, and therefore not human, and didn't fall under her hate. "Though I have to admit, I'm interested in that poor girl he's interested in."

"**You are truly wise, Fury**."

"Say what?!" Tie narrowed her eyes, looking up at the long face above hers.

"**That girl is the key**."

"Key to what?" The hippy never quite liked that gleam in his eye.

"**Bring me that girl. Find out who this girl is, and bring her to me. Un-harmed**."

"We don't know anything about her!" Fury stepped back as the cold eyes turned on her.

"**Then I guess you'll actually have to work, won't you**?"


	2. Penny

Professor Normal was better than Fury gave him credit for. There was an express "DO NOT KILL" from Bad Horse when it came to the men in the League. So, really, he never had a very high thought in her head. But, when it came to getting information, she had to give it to him… he was good. Within an hour, he had Billy's weekly schedule and the schedule of any person he came into contact with. Including his henchman/room-mate Moist. Who, Fury had to admit, had a funny real name and Moist was a name improvement.

But the one that stood out, and was circled in red ink, was this chick named Penny. Penny, huh? Pretty name. After some stake-out with Tie-Die, Fury had to admit that she was a pretty girl too. Pretty girl, and (though she'd never admit it to anyone) cute guy, she could see it. Well, if she didn't kill him first. But she had orders to bring her in alive and unharmed. Tie-Die was going to have a problem with that, Fury knew it.

Because even from across the street, both could see just how happy she was at the Laundromat. It was Sunday, not her normal day. _Twice last month you skipped the weekend. …or… if… that was you._ Yes, it wasn't Wednesday or Saturday, it was Sunday. Meaning that Horrible wasn't going to be there. It was wonderful. Dropping some cash on the table (they had to abide the law out of costume) the two women of evil left the café, crossing the street without a care.

"Penny?" Once in the Laundromat, Tie-Die did her work. Nothing like looking like this one girl in Penny's year-book from high school.

"Ashley? I haven't seen you in years, how are you? What are you doing here?" This Penny fell for things so easily.

"Thought about moving back to LA, fancy running into you here! Hey, I was just going to look at this apartment. You know this area? I'm so lost."

"Yeah, yeah I do, let me load up this last bit from the dryer and we'll head out. Who's your friend?"

"Fur- Ah, Fur, this is Penny, a girl from my high school. Penny, this is Furgusen, she's from Sweden. I'm doing an, um, exchange program for work."

"…O…kay." Fly to honey. They waited, letting her load her clothes into her basket. Soon enough they were out of the Laundromat, using the address of the off-branch to the ELE. Sure enough, as soon as they opened the door, Bad Horse greeted Penny.

"**Hello, dear. I'm sure you know who I am. I surly know who you are**." And with that, Penny fainted clean away.


	3. Wrong

The pieces were falling into place. A sly smile curled on Bad Horse's face as Penny stirred, blinking in the bright killer light of the computer screen. Three men surrounded her, one on each side of the chair she was tied to and the third standing behind… horribly creepy. Bad Horse loved to be creepy. With a nod, the three men started up their chorus, perfect harmony of words and voices. It was wonderful, having triplets from Arizona as your henchmen.

Bad Horse hated it. Singing was not his thing. Poetry was not his thing. Which is why Thomas was so confused as to his mannerisms. The man stood in the other corner, watching his boss and the young woman the League had kidnapped. He was so keen on this Horrible person, one that would read poetry to some un-named creature on his blog, the one that fumbled for words and was shy, the one that had never had a successful heist at anything higher than a Wal-Mart. And the use of the singing trio, of course, had always confused FTJ. He wasn't going to say anything though. Bowie was right, he was a kiss-arse.

The jist of the song was about the League catching the girl, Bad Horse wanting her to watch the video blog (vlog? What a stupid name, blog is better) and for her to wait until Bad Horse spoke to her directly. Then they tossed off. But not before clicking the "Play All" button. The two evils watched Penny watch Dr. Horrible. Jefferson had no idea what this was all about. Bad Horse gloated as recognition fell over the girl's face. She knew Dr. Horrible. He had guessed right.

It didn't take as long for her to watch the videos as it did Bad Horse. She had fingers and hands after all. God, how Bad Horse wished for fingers and hands. Not that he'd tell anyone that. Never would those words come from him. Soon enough, the videos were watched, and Penny was left blank-faced before the computer screen.

"**What do you think**?" It didn't scare Penny, a talking horse… not anymore.

"That's the man from the Coin Laundry."

"**It is**."

"But he's evil. He… he can't be. He's so shy."

"**Exactly**." What?! Jefferson's attention snapped from Penny to Bad Horse at those words. What did that mean?

"**I have a plan, Penny**." Bad Horse was being nice to her. He walked carefully to her, leaning his great head on her shoulder and looking at the freeze-framed image of the frightened looking Billy, one of his experiments exploding in the background.

"**He's evil. Or, can be evil. But he's shy, terribly shy. And he has morals. We can't use morals. He's brilliant, and I must have him on my team**." Jefferson could not keep quite any longer. Stepping from the shadows he confronted Bad Horse head on.

"No, sir, no. Mad scientists are a dime a dozen nowadays. We don't need him. We can find someone better suited for our needs than this monkey."

Bad Horse's eyes went from the computer to his second in command, Penny drawing back at the sudden appearance of the second most feared crime-lord known to man. Calmly, the big horse took his head from Penny's shoulder, sauntered around the table, coming face to face with FTJ. Snorting, he turned around lazily, then kicked out with his hind hooves, connecting with Thomas' chest and sending him flying. Penny screamed, Bad Horse didn't care.

"**Speak to me like that again, Jefferson, and it'll be your head I kick next**." His words were so calm, Penny knew he meant it. Thomas coughed from against the wall, wig and hat on the floor next to him, groaning when he felt the sparks of pain in his ribs from breathing. Lovely. The singing henchmen helped him to his feet and out the door, appearing from the shadows as was their job. As though nothing had happened, Bad Horse went back to Penny's shoulder.

"**Penny, you are the key to my plan. You see, he has this terrible little crush on you. He's fighting for you, you know. He says he wants to change the world… guess who he wants to change it for**?" He was teasing her now, she knew that. But her heart was pounding wildly in her chest, making tears well in her eyes. No, no, don't do that. He's evil, Dr. Horrible is evil… but he's never hurt anyone. And he has such pretty eyes, such truthful eyes. He just wants to help people, he's misguided…

"**Now, I want you to cooperate with us. You don't have to, it's more fun if you don't. but if you do, I have a plan. You see, we need to get rid of his morals. You saw how his contraptions don't always work the first time? Guess why. He's holding back. He's a genius, Penny. Not like what others claim to be, he is the **_**real thing**_**. But he foils his own equipment and his own jobs. Why? Because he's afraid to hurt people, he's afraid of being evil. Because of you**."

"Leave me alone, leave him alone."

"**I can't do that Penny. Here's what I want from you. I want you to die. Not just anywhere, but in front of him. He has to lose everything he's ever wanted. As, as you saw today, you're all he ever wants. The world, the League, that's all second base to him. He, he wants **_**you**_**. He needs to lose you. Only then can he be allowed into the League**."

"Why are you doing this to me?!"

"**Because I'm not going to kill you Penny**."

"Huh? But, but you said…"

"**I need you dead, yes. But I need your cooperation in it. So, I'm not going to kill you. Let's strike a deal. We fake your death in front of Doctor Horrible, and you get away alive, and unpestered by this fool. What do you say**?"

"What if I say no?"

"**Then we'll still go through with our plan, but you'll really die, instead of only pretending to die**."

"Why do you want to hurt him?!" The tears were flowing freely. Love was a fairytale. It wasn't real… so why did he love her?! He had never said her name, but she had seen the glances at the Laundromat, had seen his poetry to her… a year. Maybe more. There were a lot of videos, and almost every one of them had something about her in it. He was careful about her. Very careful. He never said her name, but she was so sure that he knew it. Yes, he knew her name. But she didn't know his. She knew now that he was Dr. Horrible, but she had no idea what his real name was.

"**I want to hurt him to make him truly evil. He's anti hero, and there's nothing wrong with that. But to be in the Evil League of Evil, you have to be evil. He had morals holding him back. I want to unlock his potential. Don't you agree that everyone should meet their potential? That everyone should be the best they can be? I want him to be the best he can be. But you are in his way**."

"This is wrong.

"**Dear Penny, wrong is what I do**."


End file.
